Packages for bunches of flowers



Aria 1963 w. H. LEONARD PACKAGES FOR BUNCHES OF FLOWERS Filed Nov. 16, 1966 INVENTOR. WILLIAM H. LEONARD ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,376,666 PACKAGES FOR BUNCHES 0F FLQWERS William H. Leonard, 165 Ivy St., Denver, Colo. 80220 Filed Nov. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 594,734 4 Claims. (Cl. 47-41) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A truncated, conical sleeve of soft, flexible resilient plastic film cove-ring about from three-fourths to twothirds of the out flower stems and the blossom of the flowers, forms with a bunch of long stern cut flowers, a flat fan-shaped package, which substantially reduces breakage of flowers in shipment.

This invention relates to packages for bunches of flowers, particularly long-stemmed cut flowers in essentially full bloom, to protect the flower stems and blossoms during boxing, crating and shipping.

Cut flowers are usually sold by a grower or whole'saler in lots of one hundred blooms, but for convenience of handling the flowers are packaged in smaller bunches, usually twenty-five to a bunch. Where the Wholesaler or retail customer of the grower is at some distance from the grower, the packages of small bunches are then packed in a packingbox or crate for shipment. It is customary for most such packing boxes to be made of cardboard or the like, particularly for long distance shipping which is normally by air freight. Also, the cardboard or corrugated board packing boxes provide some insulation for protection of the flowers. These boxes or crates are packed and the flower stems are tightly held down by tiedowns, cross braces or the like to prevent movement of the flowers during shipment. With carnations, for example, the usual practice is to pack the flowers in a cardboard box long enough to hold a number of bunches of flowers positioned in opposite directions, that is, with the blossoms of half of the bunches at one end and half at the other end of the box, with the stems crossing near the middle of the box. In this manner a substantial number of flowers may be packed in a single box with blossoms at each end of the box and the overlapped stems held tightly by means of cross braces near the central portion of the box. In such boxes five hundred to a thousand or more flowers may be packed depending on the size of the blossoms and the size of the box.

Conventional packaging for bunches of flowers has been to cover only the blooms with a cover and space three or more rubber bands on the stems, starting several inches from the blossoms down to the ends of the stems. In this manner small bunches of twenty-five flowers have been packaged for packing in the crates or the boxes for shipment. The rubber bands tend to hold the major part of the stems in a tight bundle. The blossoms of the flowers are arranged in a flat fan shape and they start fanning out from the top rubber band in a rather flat fan, which makes the edge blossoms bend sharply outwardly. Thus the edge blossoms are a substantial distance from the center of the bundle of stems causing the sharp bend of a small portion of stem next to the blossoms. Breakage of the stems in such a package is inevitable which, percentagewise is quite high, even with careful handling. The breakage occurs near the blossom making the flower unfit for sale. Further, the covering aflords little protection for the flower heads and some crushing of the blossoms or blooms results.

According to the present invention I have provided a package for cut flowers which utilizes one rubber band (or other encircling holder) for the ends of the stems of Cir 3,376,566 Patented Apr. 9, l68

a bunch of long-stemmed cut flowers and a collar which encloses and positions the blooms, supporting the blooms on each other and encloses a major portion of the stems. The collar supports the stems loosely from a point adjacent the cut ends to the blooms and permits the stems to start fanning out from near the cut ends, and reduces bending of the stems, the crushing of the blooms and greatly reduces the breakage of the stems. The reduction in breakage in some cases amounts to over The flowers packaged in accordance with this invention are of a better quality on arrival at their destination, even after a substantial period of time during a long distance shipment, and breakage of stems and crushing of blossoms are reduced to a minimum.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a package for out flowers in which the flowers and a major portion of stems are enclosed loosely in a fanshaped package.

Another object of the invention is to provide a generally cone-shaped collar for bunches of cut flowers arranged to retain the cut flowers in a flat, fan shape for packing the flowers in boxes or crates for shipment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a collar for long-stemmed cut flowers arranged to cover the blossoms and a major portion of the stems of the flowers to provide for proper breathing of flowers and greatly reduce breakage of the stems.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention may be readily ascertained by referring to the following description and appended illustrations in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a collar according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a bunch of long-stemmed flowers packaged in accordance with the invention.

In the illustrations a collar, shown in general by numeral 10, consists essentially of two sheets of plastic 1.2 and 14 which are truncated triangles welded together along seams 16 and 18, forming a generally flat, conical collar having a large open end 20 at its base and a smaller open end 22 at its apex. A plurality of holes 24 are arranged around the cone adjacent the bottom opening 22 and another series of openings 26 are arranged adjacent the larger opening 20. The collar may, also, be made of a single sheet without welds. The collar is preferably made of a thin, highly flexible material, such as film made of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride copolymers or other plastic film which is thin and which is quite flexible, being generally limp. The holes 24 and 26 are arranged in such a manner to permit breathing of the flowers contained in the collar and prevent swe'ating i.e., condensation on the inside of the pack-age.

The size of the collar is dependent on the type of cut flowers which are to be packaged in the collar. With carna'tions, for example, there are four or five grades which are dependent on several qualities of the flowers, for example, the size of the blossom, the fullness of the blossom, the length of the stems, the straightness of the stems, the quality of color of the blossoms, etc. It is usually desirable to provide several diflerent sizes of the collars to fit the particular class or grade of flowers. For example, for a No. 1 grade, which is the best quality of flower having the largest blossoms, the fullest blossoms, and the longest straightes t stems, a collar which is about 20 inches long having a large opening of about 17 /2 inches across when lying flat and a small opening of about 4 inches when lying flat, provides an eflective collar for packaging the better blossoms. No. 3 flowers may be readily held in a collar which measures 16 inches in length with the collar having a large opening of 16 /2 inches and a small opening of 3 /2 inches when lying flat.

Other sizes may be provided for different types of cut flowers or for different grades. Generally, the base of the cone-shaped collar is from half to the same dimensions as said height, but may be larger for such large blossomed flowers as chrysanthemums.

As shown in FIG. 2, the collar is shown in use on a bundle of twenty-five flowers. The flowers are first graded as to size and color, and the flowers of all one grade are then bundled in bundles of twenty-five. The bundles of twenty-five are prepared by laying seven to nine blossoms on a table next to each other and a second layer of seven or eight blossoms placed on top of the lower row, but with the blossoms slightly down from the tops of the lower row. A third row of blossoms are then placed on top with the blossoms slightly lower than the second row, to provide a flat, fan-shaped bundle of blossoms in layers. The stems of the flowers are held together by a single rubber band 30 (or other suitable encircling holder) adjacent their ends and the stems fan outwardly from the rubber band. The stems 32 are then trimmed to provide an even end cut 34, which is readily done by placing the bundle in a jig, and shears or a knife is then used to trim the ends of all the stems to provide the even cut. The collar is then slipped up over the stems covering the blossoms and the center of front and back pulled so that a staple 38 may be inserted to secure the top opening partially closed, leaving two openings for breathing of the flowers, With the rubber band 30 spaced away only a short distance from the end 22 of the collar, the flowers are securely held in a flat bundle, which is fan-shaped, in which the stems 32 fan out in the collar without any substantial bending and certainly without any sharp bends in the individual stems. The rubber band or other encircling holder secures the ends of the stems together in a tight bundle keeping them in relative position and the collar retains the blossoms and the major portion of the stems secure in the bundle.

As shown in FIG. 1 a band of color 40 at the top and another band of color 42 at the bottom provides means for identification of the grade of the flower which is arranged in the bundle in the collar. For example, a blue band would indicate the grade 1 flower, a red band indicates a grade 2 flower, a green band a grade 3 flower, etc. Bands in different positions, colored printing, etc. provide ready means for identifying the grade of flower. The holes or perforations permit the flowers to breathe, preventing an accumulation of condensed moisture in the collar, since the collar is watertight, and therefore prevents a wet rot of the stems, leaves and blossoms of the flowers. For optimum effectiveness of the collar, it should extend approximately three-quarters of the way from the uppermost blossoms to the cut-01f ends of the stems. In

this manner only a qu arter or less of the stems remains. outside of the collar, reducing the angle of the stems to 6 form the fan-shaped bundle and reducing the breakage of the stems. The collar may extend, however, from about half-way along the length of the stems to about nine-.

support for the spread-out stems and blossoms, while per-,

mitting substantial movement on packing for shipping of a plurality of such bundles.

While the invention has been illustrated by reference to a particular embodiment, there is no intent to limit the spirit or the scope of the invention to the precise details so set forth except as defined in the following claims.

I claim: 1. A collar for packaging a bundle of longstemmed cut flowers comprising a cone-shaped collar formed of thin and flexible plastic sheet material having a full opening at the base and an opening at the apex of the cone; the

height of said cone being from one-half to nine-tenths of the average length of the flower stems from blossom to the end of the stem of the flowers packaged therein and the base of said cone when flat being from about 50 to about 100% of the height of the cone whereby to form a flat fan-shaped package when containing cut flowers; the opening at the apex of the cone being arranged to permit a bundle of stems of flowers to telescope there-' through and be supported thereby; and a plurality of breathing holes in said material.

2. A collar according to claim 1 wherein two planar sheets of truncated triangular shape are placed in face engagement and secured togetheralong the two sides to form a cone-shaped collar.

3. A collar according to claim 1 wherein the height of said cone is about /a to /4 of the length of the stems of the flowers packaged therein.

4. A collar according to claim 1 arranged for longstemmed carnations in which said cone has a base opening of from 16 /2 to 17 /2 inches and a height of from 16 to 20 inches.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,247,191 6/ 1941 Endres 229-87 2,309,742 2/ 1943 Ballard et al 229-87 2,774,187 12/1956 Smithers 4734. 11 2,968,124 l/l96 l Coplen 4737 3,271,922 9/ 1966 Wallerstein et a1 206-46 WILLIAM T. DIXSON, ]R., Primary Examiner. 

